[bitsinthesky]

You are correct. “Karl Fundkvist, a design engineer at Goodyear who specializes in acoustics.

At low speeds, the engine and exhaust system are the primary sources of noise, but at about 35 mph tire noise comes into play. At freeway speeds, the tires account for about 60% of the noise a typical car makes, Fundkvist said.”

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-12-hy-wheel...

[EdwardDiego]

They're not, you're not. As my comment (nor the sentence in question) was obviously not referring to the noise heard by others, but rather by people _in_ the car.